KILAUEA — Thomas and Tali McCall had a choice.
Following their joint diagnosis of the novel coronavirus last month, they prepared their home for hospice care.
“We made a decision we would stay home and take care of each other, because if we went to the hospital, we would have to say goodbye,” Thomas, 73, said soberingly. “We wouldn’t have been allowed to see each other.”
Tali, 70, has been fighting Stage 4 lung cancer for the past eight months. Every month, she has her lungs drained. In March, after coming back from a trip to California, she and Thomas went to the emergency room to have this procedure done.
This time, doctors asked to do a PET scan, too, but advised against traveling to O‘ahu for it. So, doctors did a CT scan. What they saw concerned them. With Tali’s recent medical history, they believed the cancer had spread up into the lungs.
The couple went home, and then, the Health Department called.
“They said, ‘It’s not cancer we’re seeing up in the lungs, it’s the coronavirus,’” Thomas recalled.
Thomas, who has asthma, went into Wilcox Medical Center the next day for a test. Round back of the hospital, two people came out in what Thomas described as spacesuits.
“It was quick, a little uncomfortable, but not a big deal,” he said. When his test came back five days later, he was also positive.
Hospice came into their home, setting up medicines and an oxygen tank for their use.
“As soon as we find out we both had it, then hospice came and you know, it was preparing for the worst,” he said.
He took to Facebook, notifying friends and family around the world. He’d update throughout the weeks his and Tali’s conditions.
Thomas had a cough which led to a hard time breathing and used the oxygen tank a couple times.
“I’ve had times when it got triggered,” Thomas said. “The bronchus would swell up and I couldn’t breathe. I’d have to get on steroids until my lungs opened back up.”
But he never had a fever or chills.
Tali, on the other hand, experienced severe coughing bouts and a fever that spiked to 102 degrees, but it broke later that night. Each day, the Health Department called twice to check temperatures and symptoms, and every other day, a nurse came to check them out.
The pair felt lousy, Thomas said, but they took it one day at a time.
After their diagnosis, word got around the neighborhood fast. As the days went on, neighbors would quickly walk past their home or wait until the McCalls went inside from their porch to walk past. (The McCall’s downstairs neighbor, who tested negative for the virus, was also put under quarantine.)
“I remember back in the ’80s during the HIV/AIDS epidemic came out,” he said. “Because people don’t know, so there’s so much paranoid and fear behind it.”
On Kaua‘i there are currently five active cases on the island. The county has record 21 cases, with 16 either recovered or transferred elsewhere. Hawai‘i has over 500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and nine deaths.
One day early on after their diagnosis, they were walking their golden retriever early in the morning. Not thinking much of it, they left their property. Somebody must have seen, because the police came by shortly after to tell them they weren’t allowed to leave the small yard.
These interactions made Thomas and Tali think about others who are isolated because of the virus. Thomas said they’re both strong and thick-skinned, but it hurt to be shunned during an already frightening time.
“We have a disease, we are not the disease,” he said.
Thomas is currently waiting on a letter from the Health Department stating he’s in the clear and no longer contagious after testing negative, and Tali isn’t showing any symptoms and is awaiting one more test at the end of this week. On Monday, the couple shared their 23 wedding anniversary together.
“We know many, many people and they spent quite an outpouring of love and support,” Thomas said, mentioning that friends and neighbors would ask how they were and drop off food and other supplies to them. “I think that probably helped in some ways but I think the main thing is we had a mild case of the coronavirus, thank God.”
Thomas quotes John Prine, who died of COVID-19 last week.
“In one of his songs, he talks about an elderly couple, ‘Hello In There,” Thomas said. “There are people that are lonely, they’re scared and they’re alone. And if you can just stop and say hello, it can make all the difference.”
•••
Sabrina Bodon, can be
reached at 245-0441 or
sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
I admire your courage wishing you the best outcome. I am glad to hear that neighbours are pitching in.
I pray for your recovery. I pray for you strength. I believe your neighbors shun the virus not you. Please do not spread the virus. Walk in your yard. Wear a mask. Get well.
Hello in there Thomas and Tali
Here’s to a speedy recovery and lots of love during the process 
No, if you have the disease, you ARE the disease. It’s in you, and it’s lurking for a new customer. Stay home, stay put, stay isolated. Deal with it until you are well.
“neighbors would quickly walk past their home or wait until the McCalls went inside from their porch to walk past”
This is heartbreaking. I feel for this couple. Thank your mayor for spreading fear, mis-information and distrust about the virus. A true “Thank you” to those that DID treat these people like family.
It has never been the role of government to prevent it’s citizens from getting sick. Think about it. The only way the government can keep you from getting sick is to stick you in a plastic bubble at birth and control every aspect of your life. Even then it wouldn’t work. It’s the role of government to maintain order. In this case it’s role is to prevent the hospitals and medical services from being overwhelmed. They were not, and are not, being overwhelmed. Promoting ideas, like social distancing, house arrest and wearing face-hiding masks when THERE IS NO THREAT to order, doesn’t maintain order. It’s tyranny. It makes shameful behaviors like SHUNNING AN ILL ELDERLY couple acceptable because we are reduce to livestock rather than humans.
Wake up, Mayor. Be part of “the good”.
OMG, stop. I don’t have a problem with them sitting on their porch, but when he revealed that the two of them LEFT THEIR PROPERTY TO WALK A DOG, I lost all sympathy.
You people simply don’t get it. You don’t have the right to endanger other people like this. Why can’t you get this in your head? Isolation means ISOLATION. Not walk around your neighborhood!
The mayor did not spread fear, misinformation, or distrust about this virus. People are just being exceedingly selfish and not bothering to think about the potentially DIRE consequences of their actions.
Every time you post this nonsense, you are basically telling the entire community that we can’t trust YOU to do the right thing if you get this virus. That’s all I am taking from this. YOU CAN NOT BE TRUSTED.
Happy Anniversary and Mahalo for sharing your story!
God bless the caregivers, also!
“We have a disease, we are not the disease,” he said.
WHAT???!!!!
Look, people, when you have the disease, you are the way the disease spreads. No, you aren’t the virus itself, but you are SHEDDING VIRUS, so that distinction is so minor as to be insignificant. I don’t have much of a problem with them getting outside if they stay on their property, but GOING FOR A WALK? What if one of them had an episode during the walk and needed assistance? Would they tell passers-by that they had the coronavirus? Would they allow that person to help them without telling them? How is this not the same as taking a needle with HIV-infected blood out in public and randomly poking someone with it?
My jaw dropped and my heart sank reading this! You would think that people who actually have the virus and are feeling the symptoms would know better.
This is why a stay-at-home order is absolutely necessary, even at the expense of a depressed economy. This is why law enforcement HAS to have a strong presence in enforcing it. You simply can not count of people to do the right thing, even when it is a matter of life and death.
ALL FOR A WALK WITH A DOG!!!
Ms. McCall as a Doctor you and your husband should know better than to JEOPARDIZE the HEALTH AND SAFETY of the community by VIOLATING QUARANTINE AFTER you were diagnosed POSITIVE FOR THE COVID VIRUS. Everyone is trying to abide by the law to stop the spread of this DISEASE, and yet you and your husband VIOLATED AND BROKE THE LAW KNOWINGLY AND WILLINGLY the DAY AFTER YOU WERE FOUND INFECTED. It is people like you and your husband Thomas that MAYOR KAWAKAMI is talking about. I understand that it sucks to stay inside but YOU WERE KNOWINGLY INFECTED and CHOSE to still GO OUT IN PUBLIC. Why do we need roadblocks and citations if INFECTED PEOPLE KNOWINGLY JEOPARDIZE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY TO OTHERS WITHOUT ANY RAMIFICATIONS OR PENALTIES?
The law is in placed for a reason. I’m sick of all these ppl that think this is a joke, or the stupid ppl that says the flu kills more then this virus does. But has airports, cities, life ever had to be shut down because of the flu. NO. If we went on out daily lives this virus would far bypassed the death toll from the flu in a matter of months. I don’t blame your neighbors. They are trying to be safe and not catch a contagious disease. Also very happy to hear the police were doing their jobs. You are breaking the law. Staying home for 14 days is not a long time if you consider “community spread” then this shut down will last longer just because 2 ppl can’t follow the rules. Especially at your age. You should know what is right from wrong. I’m sure once you both are cleared, your life and your neighbors will be back to normal. I pray no one else will catch this from either one of you and their out come not be as good as both of you. We are the only country that can’t get our shit together. I hope you both recover soon but till then for your friends/neighbors/community and this island follow the rules and stay home. Don’t be a covidiot
“JEOPARDIZE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY TO OTHERS”
He has asthma. She has lung cancer. They both were diagnosed with China virus. And they are both still alive. They both are well enough to take their dog for a walk. Tell me again how awful this virus is?
Your mayor isn’t protecting anyone from anything. Not My Mayor! LMAO
We are the same ages as this couple. I’m not a doctor, but a writer who wrote a novel about a pandemic. My husband and I have been home in quarantine since before it was dictated by the state of Hawaii. Though I feel empathy for these people getting double socked, they have responsibility to their community and all of us. We also have a dog and walk her on our property wearing masks as required in public.
Tali We are only passing through sometimes happy and sometimes blue. Jerry Cooper